The following is the official translation of the September 22, 2025, speech by “President of the State of Palestine” Mahmoud Abbas, delivered via video link to the United Nations during the High-level International Conference for Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and Implementation of the Two-State Solution.

In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
Your Excellency President Emmanuel Macron,
Your Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud,
H.E. Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres,
Distinguished leaders and heads of delegations,
Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.

On behalf of the State of Palestine, I express profound appreciation to the CoChairs, to the United Nations, and to all participating states for the historic New York Declaration issued by the July Conference, which was adopted by an overwhelming majority in the General Assembly, marking the beginning of irreversible steps toward ending the humanitarian catastrophe and the occupation, in accordance with international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative, and realizing the independent State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with the State of Israel in security, peace, and good neighborliness.

The Declaration affirmed that the war against our people must end
immediately and permanently, and that crimes of siege, starvation, and
destruction cannot be a means to achieve security. We therefore demand a
permanent ceasefire, the guaranteed delivery of humanitarian aid through the United Nations and UNRWA, the release of all hostages and prisoners, the withdrawal of occupation forces from Gaza, and the immediate start of
rehabilitation and reconstruction in Gaza and the West Bank through the
International Conference in Cairo.

We commend the Egyptian, Qatari, and the United States of America
mediation efforts seeking to stop the war, and we value the positions of Egypt and Jordan in rejecting displacement—an approach shared with us by the international community.

The State of Palestine is the only legitimate authority qualified to assume full responsibility for governance and security in Gaza, through a temporary administrative committee linked to the Palestinian government in the West Bank, with Arab and international support.

Hamas will have no role in governance, and it, along with other factions,
must hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, because we want
one unified state, without arms outside the framework of the law, under one legal system, and with one legitimate security force. We reaffirm our
condemnation of the crimes of the occupation, as we also condemn the killing and kidnapping of civilians, including what Hamas committed on October 7, 2023.

At the same time, we demand an end to settlement activity, annexation,
settler terrorism, and assaults on Islamic and Christian holy sites. We
condemn the occupation’s policies that isolate Jerusalem, expand
construction in Area E1, and promote rhetoric of a “Greater Israel,” which
shows contempt for international law and poses a direct threat to Arab
national security and international peace. We also condemn the blatant
aggression against the sovereignty of sisterly Qatar and other Arab countries, which calls for a firm international response.

The State of Palestine is pursuing a comprehensive reform agenda to
strengthen governance, transparency, and the rule of law. This includes
reforming the financial system and school curricula in line with UNESCO
standards within two years, and establishing a unified social welfare system following the cancellation of all previous payments to families of prisoners and martyrs, now under international audit by a specialized firm.

We also reaffirm our commitment to holding presidential and parliamentary elections within one year after the end of the war, and to drafting a temporary constitution within three months to ensure the transition from authority to statehood. This will prevent the participation of any parties or individuals who do not commit to the political program and international obligations of the Palestine Liberation Organization and international legitimacy, under international monitoring.

We want a modern democratic state based on the rule of law, pluralism,
peaceful transfer of power, equality, justice, and the empowerment of women and youth.

We highly appreciate the positions of the countries that have recognized the State of Palestine, and we call on those who have not yet done so to take this step, and we demand support for Palestine to gain full membership in the United Nations. It should be recalled that we already recognized Israel’s right to exist in 1988 and 1993, and we continue to do so.

In this context, we thank France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia,
Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg, Malta, San Marino, and Andorra, and we
recall with respect and gratitude the 149 countries that recognized the State of Palestine early on and shared our long struggle, the most recent being Spain, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, and Armenia.

We commend the major role of the Conference Co-Chairs, Saudi Arabia and France, as well as the United Kingdom, in mobilizing further international recognitions, and we extend our gratitude to all participating states for their important role in adopting the New York Declaration and advancing irreversible steps toward peace based on the two-state solution under international legitimacy.

We also value the role of our brotherly and friendly states that support our
cause in international fora, especially Algeria, which currently holds the Arab seat on the Security Council.

We appreciate the positions of peoples and organizations that support the
legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to freedom, independence, and
statehood. We reject conflating solidarity with the Palestinian cause and antiSemitism, which we firmly oppose, based on our values and principles.
We also declare our readiness to work with U.S. President Donald Trump,
with Saudi Arabia, France, the United Nations, and all partners to implement the peace plan endorsed at this Conference, within a specific timetable and under international guarantees and monitoring, paving the way toward just peace and comprehensive regional cooperation.

In this regard, we call on Israel to immediately sit at the negotiating table to stop the bloodshed and achieve just and comprehensive peace in the region.

And I say to the Israeli people: Our future and your future lie in peace. Let the violence and war end. Our generations deserve to live in security and freedom, so that the peoples of our region may live in lasting peace and good neighborliness. On this occasion, I wish all Jews around the world a happy New Year on the occasion of Rosh Hashanah.

And to our steadfast Palestinian people, in Palestine and everywhere, I say: the dawn of freedom and independence is inevitably coming.

Peace be upon you.